All in Arma Terrain Pack (AiA TP) - A1/A2/OA terrains from BI in A3

[.kju 3244]

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= Note: This project is no longer maintained! =

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tl'dr

Unfortunately I have to announce the end of development and support on my behalf

for all AiA projects. If someone wants to take over, contact me/go for it (APL SA).

Reasons

I want to briefly outline the reasons in the following - mainly to give insights

to those donated money to me to get to understand the decision and situation, as

well as to those who care about the project and want to know what's going on.

For more context and background check this and that post.

In short it is simply financially not viable to continue - the various projects

(working for BI (A3 Rearmed, DayZ SA), SIX networks (withSIX), the different AiA

versions, Iron Front in Arma 2/3) were an attempt to fund the development of a

complex game mode for Arma 3.

Sadly all these attempts have been unsuccessful - by large margin. It was not even

enough to sustain the work on these projects, let alone to generate a surplus of

money to cross-finance the game mode. So I have no choice but to stop.

More details for those interested:

• The effort behind all this is massive - even my deep insights into arma modding,
  my professional software engineering background, partial automation and use of
  advanced tools it still takes lots and lots of hours.
  While the modding alone takes much time due to the sub-bar level of the arma engine
  and tool set in regards to modding, there is also testing, release management, lots of
  user assistance, support and team communication.
  This is work for a regular full-time day job, which it has been for me for several
  months; or actually something for a team of people/professional company with paid
  staff.
  

• Unfortunately there was just limited progress at the end of the year.
  The background here is I invested almost two months to assist the CUP team to
  get the first release out, trying to improve the collaborative setup for the team
  and to handle all the inquiries to join the project after Dslyecxi's promo video -
  meaning lots of 1-to-1 communication.
  As side note sadly not much has come out of this - partially due lack of leadership,
  giving people instructions or work to be done, yet overall its very challenging to
  find dedicated people..
  

• With BI shifting priorities during A3 development and as a result no longer improving
  backwards compatibility of the engine and the work on A3 Rearmed getting stopped,
  it made it very hard to make AiA an usable platform.
  As we can see over a year later since the source model release, its a very time
  intensive progress with only very few people up for the challenge (major kudos to
  Reyhard, Alwarren, Varanon, Chairborne and a few others).
  Sadly even despite fairly popular support BI could not get convinced to put
  more resources into improving backwards compatibility of the engine. At least
  much thanks to Dwarden and pettka trying their best!
  

• Donations and patreon didn't work out - you can read more about the outcome here.
  

• To do is a hobby is not longer viable for me - I have been modding ofp and
  arma for almost ten years; like many others, I have put many many thousands of
  hours into promoting, playing, modding to improve this game and environment
  around it.
  With one difference - most people have moved on or have given up a long time ago.
  Only very few people remain by now - their dedication, skills, sharing and work
  is essential to this community. With more and more stopping the impact will be
  felt (actually is for quite some time if one looks closely or talks to people
  outside this forum..).
  Arma is just too much of an obscure and poor environment for modding (official
  tools, workflow, custom scripting language, engine limitations, etc) and the lack
  of backwards compatibility in A3 that makes most of the previous community made
  content obsolete or very labersome and tedious to port over. It seems most
  people have not realized these effects, or have accepted to what is available
  or the old crowd are no longer playing anyway..
  For me personally I haven't been playing Arma for over 3 years, except for a short
  time in some competitions during A3 alpha.
  This is mainly due to my arms injury and having to dedicate computer time to
  modding over playing, yet also as the PvP scene broke down finally completely
  after A3 alpha and my team, as well as many others, are not happy with the A3
  gameplay and performance..
  

Future of the projects

So what does this mean for the AiA projects - basically there are these options:

• As all projects are open source and APL SA someone else could take over.
  The complexity, scale and overall effort makes this quite a challenge though.
  In case someone is really up for it, I will try to upload all my WIP data to shared host.
  

• Eventually AiA might get superseded by CUP (or other projects) and become obsolete.
  

• AiA goes into hibernation eventually going defunct by one of the patches from BI
  (unless someone else makes a third party fix).
  

Donations

On a separate note I want to thank sincerely everyone having contributed via

Patreon or PayPal!

Unfortunately it didn't work out in the end, yet I hope you are happy with what

I was able to achieve. Again my full appreciation to your support!

Personal future

I will keep this very brief.

1. CUP
   The current plan is to support them still until the end of the month to ensure
   a smooth transition.
   .
   
2. IFA3
   Unless BI, X1 and DS get their act together to make a DLC for A3 possible,
   I will only be able to assist the IFA3 team by building the patches; other than
   that they are on their own from now on.
   .
   
3. Game mode
   In case I still find a way to fund the development, I might give it a final try.
   .
   
4. Arma modding
   Aside from the above my time with arma has come to a close. Good times, bad times.
   Time for the next chapter.
   

Acknowledgment

Thank you everyone who assisted me with the projects the past years and showed

his/her appreciation!

[sorophx 25]

Why not un-install A2, and Operation Arrowhead? or do you still play that?

I play A LOT of Arrowhead, mostly ACE. Arma 3 is really just to fool around in the editor, I don't actually play it currently.

Hard drives are cheap nowadays :)

Or you can always delete some porn. Just don't re-download it while playing!

They may be cheap, but I'm a student and can't afford a new HDD, 100$ is two months worth of my stipend, and I also have other expenses.

and why would anyone download porn in this day and age? :D it's freely available online with a few clicks

;2856875']

Aside from the above my time with arma has come to a close. Good times' date=' bad times.

Time for the next chapter.

[/quote']

sorry to hear that, thanks for all your hard work.

[killshot 5]

Thank you so much, for all the incredible work you have done for the community! I wish you all the very best for your future chapters and health of course!

That's one bitter pill to swallow for the rest of us I guess, but probably the best thing you can do for yourself!

Maybe we will see you back on the dance floor, when Arma-4 shows up :rolleyes:

Good luck on your ways, wherever they will lead you :)

[cyruz 103]

Fuck dude that sucks. Hope you won't be a stranger going forward, you're basically part of the furniture around here.

[Horus 83]

;2856875']

1. Game mode
   In case I still find a way to fund the development' date=' I might give it a final try.
   .
   [*']Arma modding
   Aside from the above my time with arma has come to a close. Good times, bad times.
   Time for the next chapter.
   

Acknowledgment

Thank you everyone who assisted me with the projects the past years and showed

his/her appreciation!

After CAA1 project ... again .... see you soon and thank you for everything

[james2464 176]

Thank you for all your hard work Kju.

All the best.

[rhyswilliams999 10]

Very sad to hear. I was just saying to my friends that you were leading AiA, CUP, and to expect awesome work to appear in time. Just needed to wait. Finally managed to get them to download AiA and CUP and had started to create missions on them. Was looking forward to having terrains and weapons we loved, finally in an updated engine.

[rebelvg 281]

Really sad news. One of my favorite mods.

Thank you for all your hard work.

[jonpas 293]

Sad to hear Kju, good luck in your future endeavors!

[devilspawn 24]

Thanks for all the hard work Kju :) keep safe .....I hope BI is taking notes, massive lost to the arma community.

[Von Quest 1163]

Another digital warrior to lay down his bits and bytes... a sad day indeed.

o7

[Outlawz7 1]

Thanks for getting this far :)

[nomisum 129]

Many thanks for your past work kju! Big loss.

[laxemann 1673]

Thanks for you work, kju.

However, I'm feeling uncomfortable when reading about money so much lately.

I've been told that my pov on modding might be a bit "oldschoolish and ideal" and I'm also aware of the fact that increasing quality and complexity standards are making it harder to get stuff done.

But absolutely expecting to get money is a bit extreme if you ask me.

You went the "give me money or I'll stop" way there.

Spending time into modding is a a decision one makes on his own.

You've also stated multiple times that you've got a busy life anyway, and especially this breaks down for me to "I'll do it, but only if you pay me".

On the other hand, I'm also aware that this was an experiment of you to see if you could keep up your standards.

Additionally, "time is money" might be more true these times than it ever was.

Just my few cents here, again, I'm very grateful for what you've done and wish you the best of luck

and joy in your life!

[XiviD 26]

Wow, sad news kju!

Thanks for your hard work!

[ligthert 21]

My thanks for all your hard work.. I've enjoyed it in the past and will enjoy it in the future (until BIS breaks it ;) ).

[aliascartoons 182]

Sad news indeed :(

Was great to work with you buddy, you are good project manager, nice guy to have around, talented moder.

I wish you to find something you love to do and pays the bills. Never give up on this. Is something we all should do.

Thank you for your high quality work and great effort! Thank you for sharing!

[fer 21]

Very sad news, Kju - few OFP-era contributors are left, it seems, and you've always been at the absolute forefront. Thank you so much for all the many projects and initiatives you have created or helped take flight. Best of luck with the next chapter.

[sickboy 13]

Dear kju,

Thank you for your many years of service and friendship to this community and it's inhabitants.

Your developments, knowledge and support to this community, game and it's studio have been invaluable.

You, your endevours and projects have often been the spearhead, forefront and hallmark of modding and the community itself,

pushing the envelope.

Your involvement, work and projects will still resonate in this community for years to come.

I wish you all the best in any of your future endevours.

I salute you.

[BennetArms 1]

Thank you kju *salute*

[inlesco 233]

I can honestly say: I always considered .kju to be one of the most passionate, skillful and observant modders in Arma community.

His knowledge and its usage gave birth to many projects we all currently enjoy ourselves.]

.kju is prolific modder, a standard of quality and persistence for everyone to seek for.

I remember the old times when used to run most popular mods like WGL for OFP, and others. Now it's AiA, which is extremely important for at least ~50% of Arma community.

Thank you for your dedication, kju! Best luck in all future endeavors (and hopefully, they'll be related to BIS games again soon!)!

[seba1976 98]

Oh no, what happens now to all the terrain makers who put AiA TP as a requirement?

[fuiba 10]

Thank you for all your hard work and all the best to you!

[granQ 293]

Oh no, what happens now to all the terrain makers who put AiA TP as a requirement?

We pick it up where it got left and continue as a community.

[DancZer 65]

Sad to hear Kju! Good luck in the future and thank you for all your hard work! :)